Everything begins with a very simple thought and grows into a magnificent premise and returns to a very simple thought…

The Engine of Tomorrow is… What?

We often take tomorrow for granted…

Just like we take every engine in every car we’ve ever owned or driven! Yet, at the core is the heartbeat of a working engine. Without it, then our choices are limited. If it barely works, then we get poor results. But if all the pieces work together, then we can produce great results!

Consider the combustion chamber, and without being at all technical, it is the piston within that chamber that creates motion when all the conditions are met. Fuel. Ignition source. Exhaust port. Linkage. Lubricants to ease friction. Water to reduce heat.

Then you must have the desire to make the engine go!

If all pieces work together correctly, then the engine produces power that causes the drive train to move the wheels. But a lot happens between the key being inserted and the power being transferred to the wheels.

In much the same way, a lot can happen between Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. As we all comprehend, we live on decisions made in the past and most of those were Yesterday. Tomorrow is the future and will be lived as well as the decisions of today are made.

As I have thought a lot about this over the past few years, there are decisions and results of my yesterdays that I wished were different. Choices made in the present direct the path of the future, but do not yield desired results because of poor choices made in the past. Whether it be career choices, health, family or finances, our future is often a result of all those yesterdays.

This applies in the spiritual realm as well. But there is one great equalizer for the Christian. We may make mistakes in our own lives, but there is an engine available to us to help recreate our future plans!

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8 KJV)

What is so special about this? His name says it all.

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 NKJV)

He saves us from our poor mistakes! This does not mean we keep making the same mistakes over and over thinking we will always have his spiritual engine working in our behalf. There may come a time when the engine no longer works for us. Especially when we make wrong choices. Continually. Over and Over. Never wanting to be anything different but what me make of it.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (Romans 1:28 ESV)

You see. We are in control of better solutions for our life. Make the right choice earlier in life, then those later years are better prepared. Do not start making right decisions until later in life, then you must pay for the consequences of poor choices earlier. Even if God saves you, your life is often replete with results from earlier decisions.

Unless God…

Unless God decides to help the end be better than expectations you may have from a poor beginning. Jesus teaches a parable talking about the reward at the end of the day being equal to all, regardless of the time entered into the harvest.

(It’s a little lengthy, but please consider the message in its entirety.)

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius [penny, KJV] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 20:1-16 NKJV)

All received equal pay at the end of the day, regardless of the time put into the day, or the effort required to get to the end of the day. This does not mean you simply live life as you choose until the day is about over, because none of us know the day or the hour (Matthew 25:13), or the times or the seasons (Acts 1:7) when the day will come to an end. No, the better way of thinking is to be involved in the work of the vineyard all day long and let the reward be what it will be.

This is where I am today. Most of my spiritual life has been lived in the vineyard of God and I’ve challenged myself to make correct choices so that the engine is available to me as I need it. My secular life has had a few bumps and bruises along the way, but I’m trusting in what has been accomplished in the past, along with the statement above…